The Secret Vampire
by HaydenMCasey
Summary: Amanda: the innocent sweetheart who crosses the wrong path and winds up in a terrible situation. Christina: Amanda's inseparable twin, or so it seems; the one who witnesses Amanda's death, carrying the weight of the burden... More in story...
1. Prologue

PROLOGUE

"No!" Christina Chandler screamed the words fiercely and passionately, all hatred aimed toward the man with the knife. He stepped closer and closer to a very frightened, very disturbed Amanda Carlisle, the friend Christina had grown up with forever. She wouldn't be able to live if Amanda died now.

Amanda shrieked. Christina's eyes were glued onto her panicked face, the face that drove her crazy to see. She would much rather hear of Amanda's frightful death than to actually be there, to experience it all and live the rest of life with that burden on her shoulders.

As much as Christina wanted to help, she was frozen on the sidewalk where she stood. She wanted oh so much to try to help, but she couldn't. And if Amanda were to die, she'd live all of life with what felt like thousand-pound weights dragging her down.

All she felt like was a background image. All she did was stand and watch as the behemoth man approached Amanda.

Amanda felt like shrieking again, yet she knew in the back of her mind that shrieking would do her no good. No one was awake at this time of night, besides her, Christina, and this crazed man. Christina and she were walking down this alley, late at night, and though Amanda was scared to, Christina knew they'd be just fine, because her and her family had taken this route before to quicken their arrival home. As utterly creepy as the route was, she knew it'd shorten their trip. But she was wrong, because this alley became a dead end, and little did either of them know a killer lurked at the end of it.

Christina's breaths escaped in miniscule amounts. Her head spun, and she realized with a heart-pounding shudder that today was the only day in the history of her life that she forgot to pocket her cell phone in the morning.

"Christina, _help!_" Amanda screeched. Christina glanced in the direction of her best friend, and a tear escaped the corner of her eye when she saw the look on her face.

Distressed, fearful, knowing that death would come.

Christina hoped that Amanda could read the look on her face that told her ever so invisibly that she couldn't help.

Christina broke out in sobs. The killer's knife approached Amanda's heart at a slow pace; nevertheless, it still approached.

He hunched over, and his blade was inches away from Amanda. Her heart pounded wildly, and her gut instinct told her to run.

She didn't.

"_Help!_" Christina shrieked. "_Help! Help!_" But no one came. No one at all.

The knife inched closer and closer, and it now rested two inches away from Amanda's heart.

Christina heard the screeching of burning rubber as a very expensive car skidded to a halt behind her. A man exited the car, and her heart sank in uttermost fear. The man's silky brown hair fell to his shoulders in waves, framing his tight, gaunt face. His body was covered in brown clothing, and brown leather boots covered his feet. On his belt was a gun.

She shrieked. The man stalked forward, and she cowered in fear of a shot, but when she realized his gun wasn't going to be killing her, she stood up and sighed, trembling.

Her gaze returned to Amanda. The killer's knife rested an inch from her heart. She gulped. Amanda was probably more scared than she'd ever been in her life.

Christina was right. Amanda was growing more and more frightened with every breath she took, every pulse her hot, flowing blood made, every millimeter closer the knife came.

The man's gun was raised into the air, and the trigger was pulled. Christina closed her eyes, and when she opened them, she heard the gunshot, and watched in blinding fear as her heart sank. The bullet lodged itself deep within the knife holder, and he toppled forward. The last thing Christina saw before she blacked out was the knife plunging itself deep beneath the surface of Amanda's skin, and the deafening scream that accompanied it.

Christina knew Amanda would not be alive when she woke up.


	2. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Christina sat in her desk, doodling in the margins of her science notebook. Ever since Amanda had died, Christina had begun to slack off during school. Amanda brought out the best in Christina, and when she died she seemed to suck the fun right out of her.

Christina took all the guilt. She thought she knew the right alley, but she didn't, and ended up getting Amanda killed.

She knew she'd never forget the look on Amanda's face when was murdered.

She wished she had then power to resurrect. If she did, she knew four people off the top of her head who she'd bring back first.

Her teacher told the class something, but Christina wasn't paying attention. Instead, she was drawing Amanda. She wished for some colored pencils at that moment, so she could shade in the special, gorgeous light lavender color of Amanda's eyes. Her pencil tip brushed the surface of the paper, and piece by piece, Amanda's face appeared on the paper. It was beautiful, a type of beautiful only Christina could rival. Christina felt deep inside that she was pretty, but that Amanda was more than she'd ever be.

When she was finished, she noticed she had drawn a glint of a tear in the left corner of Amanda's eye.

It's not that Christina was lonely, because she had tons of friends that considered her an icon. She was a leader in a crowd of followers. She didn't feel lonely at all, but as if something was missing.

And something _was_ missing. Amanda was missing. Christina missed Amanda more than she had missed her dead father. Amanda was almost like her twin, like a part of her. It was as if a part of Christina had been taken when Amanda died, and yet Christina hadn't shed a tear.

Amanda was closer to Christina than anyone else, and it went the other way, too. Amanda had loved Christina dearly; she considered Christina a sister, almost. They were so mutually similar, and so easy to relate to, that the moment when Christina forgot her lunch at home and Amanda offered her half of her sandwich that they were figuratively glued together.

It was almost as if they were bonded psychically.

Christina's friend Joana had claimed to be slightly psychic (or, to Christina, slightly psycho), seeing the psychic link between her and Amanda. Joana claimed to be able to see auras. Whenever she looked at Christina, she saw nothing but bright, golden light, and she said that was a good sign. Amanda's had been equally golden, but recently it had begun to reveal tinges of darkness. Joana was quite disturbed by this, because according to her, black meant evil, and she told Christina privately that a tinge of blackness meant that eventually the whole aura would turn black, and that takeover of the spirit by darkness.

If Joana had been at the death, she probably would have spotted complete blackness.

Christina started to believe in Joana's abilities.

She couldn't confirm anything, though, because Joana was not present at school that day. The table that she sat in at lunch was completely desolate. When Christina's usual crowd came in and spotted her all alone with her sorrowful expression, and Amanda missing, they were reminded of what happened and decided to leave her alone to think. But Christina didn't want to think. She didn't want to think about Amanda, and have a sullen expression for the rest of the day. She wanted them to sit with her, and she wanted to chat away the sorrow.

She did notice, however, that Joana was not present at school.

"Hey." She looked behind her and spotted Noelle, and no one else. Noelle was a shy, mostly quiet girl who Christina had befriended toward the beginning of the year. Her nose and cheeks were covered in freckles, and she was pretty Medium-length straight, brown hair framed her well-proportioned face. She patted the spot next to her. Noelle sat her tray gently on the table and sat herself next to Christina.

"Sorry about Amanda." Christina's head fell. "I know she was your best friend. That must be really bad."

"Yeah, it is." Christina's voice trembled, and with all her power she stopped herself from crying.

"That sucks." Noelle really wasn't helping. All she was doing was adding to the problem. Christina was too nice to say anything, though, so she just nodded.

The rest of Christina's lunch period was spent in silence. People around her were buzzing on and on in meaningless chatter, but she stayed silent. Noelle sat with her the whole time, occasionally touching a french fry.

Christina was grateful when the final bell rang, dismissing them from school. Today, the school was releasing its students early, and she was the first one out the door.

When she got outside, she had a hallucination. Or so she thought. Standing ten feet away from her was Amanda. She could tell. It was an instinct, another reason why they were freakishly alike. But Christina could also tell that this Amanda was different. When she looked into her eyes, though, she instantly knew this was not the Amanda she had befriended.

This Amanda had changed.

Her eyes were rimmed in a deep-scarlet that were only possessed by demonic beings. In the middle of her pale face was a gaunt nose, drained of all health and life. Her unusually red lips were as thick and sensuous as ever, but held a deep and strange beckoning within them.

Amanda had never looked like this in all her life, Christina thought. The Amanda she knew, the sweet, kind Amanda who had shared half of her sandwich with her had been so different. Locked up inside, waiting and begging to break out of her shell.

Amanda, she knew now, had come out of her shell. And all it took to do so was death.

Christina snapped back into focus. How could Amanda be standing here before her if she had died? Amanda was killed right before Christina's eyes, and the image haunted her like nothing else ever had.

How could what was standing before Christina be a hallucination if it looked and felt so real?

Christina's impulses demanded her to reach out and touch Amanda. She took a step forward, and reached her arm out, as straight as possible. Her heart was pounding violently within her chest. Her hand reached the spot where Amanda was, and she felt... nothing.

Amanda had disappeared. _Gone with the wind_, Christina thought.

Christina sighed and continued on her way home.

Her heart was still pounding minutes later when she thought she saw a tinge of darkness in the wind. Then, it disappeared, and she kept walking, ignoring the breeze and all it brought.

Karina Deveraux wished the damn wind would stop blowing. The night's eerie silence was drowned out by the branches of the tree directly outside slapping her room's window. She almost thought of opening the window so the noise from the branches would stop, but the wind would blow out the candles—and everything else in her room.

She had gathered herself, Lyssa Deveraux (her twin), Eve Chartreuse and Lindy Carlisle (Amanda's older sister). Jane Gilbert had also been invited to join them, but she hadn't showed. Karina figured those closest to Christina could help her "find a way to get Christina back to normal again."

Karina felt Christina would never be back to normal, since Amanda was like her second half. She might enjoy life, sure, but she'd never be as sane and happy as she was with Amanda.

"Karina?" Eve whispered.

"Eve, I don't know why you're whispering. My parents don't give if you guys are here." Now that Amanda was gone, everyone there (and Christina) had turned into a bunch of wimps. Karina thought it smart to take advantage of their wimpiness and take the lead.

"Okay," Eve whispered again, still not comfortable with the silence.

"How can we—" she started, and froze.

Leaves rustled outside of her window. Her heart pounded for an odd reason. She didn't know why, because she knew it was just Jane finally arriving, but something in her heart and in her head told her otherwise. It was like an impulse, in the way that you couldn't get it to stop until you did what it told you to.

Karina quickly stood up and stalked silently to her second-story window. Her chest was thumping furiously. Karina reassured herself that it was only Jane outside, and nothing predatory or harmful, and her pulse decreased, but still dwindled above normality.

When she had calmed herself enough to glance down, she wished she hadn't.

Standing in a pile of leaves, hair in a mess, eyes rimmed in scarlet, and teeth bared, was Amanda Carlisle.

Karina let out a piercing scream.

She tripped backwards, plummeting toward a lit candle, one of many illuminating the room. Jane was a bit on the spiritual side, and warned Karina to light them before their gathering. They were infused with white sage, to keep evil spirits away. Karina doubted they were working, considering she'd just seen something a hell of a lot like an evil spirit standing outside of her window.

"Karina, breathe." Within seconds, Lyssa was beside her, indignantly, trying to calm her down to get some words out of her, anything. Karina was panicking, breathing so rapidly her twin was afraid she'd pass out from hyperventilation.

Karina's vision was a blur. Her heart was back to pounding at an unhealthy speed, thumping excitedly inside her chest. She tried to reassure herself that what she saw outside was just an illusion, but she didn't believe it with a single ounce of willpower. Lindy and Eve were both at the window, scouting warily for whatever haunted Karina so powerfully.

"What did you see, Karina? What was out there?" She felt Lyssa shaking her, obviously trying to force out whatever information Karina had about whatever was outside.

"I saw... I-- I saw..." Karina stuttered. The fear had knocked her ability to speak well right out of her, and the other three girls' heart rates were increasing.

"Yes? You saw. . .?" Lyssa tried again. Hopelessly.

"It was—A—Am—Ahh..." She stuttered again.

"Goddammit, Karina, Spit it out!" Lyssa shook her sister harder. Whatever Karina saw, Lyssa could tell it wasn't good. Her stomach gave her a foreboding sense of dread, a very unwelcoming, foreboding sense of dread.

"I saw Amanda."

"_What?_" The three girls spouted in unison, gazing at Karina with unbelievably wide eyes that looked as if they'd pop out of their sockets if they were opened any wider.

"Amanda."

"Yeah, we heard you," Eve spoke, much louder than the barely audible whisper she had spoken in earlier, "but . . . _huh?_"

"I saw Amanda! She—she was out—out there, and—" Karina lazily pointed a finger at the window—"she had red eyes, and weird teeth, and—"

"Sounds like a vampire," blurted/interrupted Eve, gazing at the wall intently.

"Vampire?" Lyssa laughed. "Oh, c'mon! You know those are _totally _unrealistic."

Eve just shrugged.

"Vampire . . ." Lindy muttered, her gaze traveling around the room. "Sounds good to me."

"Good for what?"

"Good as a story to tell people. C'mon, wouldn't that be _awesome_? We could say a killer vampire came to Karina's house and scared her crapless!"

"_Hey_," Karina said, obviously better now that her pulse decreased to a fairly normal number.

She glanced over to the window, and noticed that Eve was standing by it, her eyes focused on something beyond the window. A sullen expression was on her face.

"What, Eve?"

"I don't know what _you_ saw, but all I see outside this window is a huge pile of leaves, a tree, a fence, and Jane."


End file.
